Prime Minister Mark Rutte Visits HSD
On the morning of November 30th prime minister Mark Rutte visited The Hague Security Delta (HSD). Within this cluster businesses, government and knowledge institutions work together on knowledge development and innovations in the area of physical and digital security, also called the triple helix. The partners in this triple helix presented themselves on the campus. The prime minister was impressed by the innovative strength and the integral approach of cyber security issues that were discussed. Within this visit the role for the government in relation to cyber security investments was addressed.
Digitilisation & Developments
The digitilization and developments in robotics and unmanned objects offers a lot of economic and societal opportunities. These opportunities will be most successful when they are aligned with the importance of digital security. This is a great chance for The Netherlands to not only position itself as 'The Digital Gateway to Europe', but to also make it come true. Cyber criminality forms a huge threat for our safety and security and it is of the utmost importance that we secure our digital infrastructures. Collaborations between the private sector, knowledge institutions and governmentt can help realise innovations in this area. Unlocking the development by sharing knowledge is essential.
HSD Campus & Partners
The prime minister was led through the campus of HSD where he was introduced to facilities including living labs, meeting and training facilities, flexible offices and the SME Support Desk. Partner TNO showed their new Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab where they explained their expertise in cyber security and their research within so called dark web projects together with EclecticIQ. EclecticIQ is a startup which recently received funding through KPN Ventures. Subsequently Onegini, a scale up company which provides safe mobile communications for consumers presented their company and products in the area of 'frictionless banking', which they developed with partners like Samsung, Aegon and Infosys. Vincent Philipsen of Onegini: "HSD provides access to knowledge and market introductions. The real innovations start on the lower levels, start ups for example, and within HSD it is inspiring to keep track of the innovations. Networking is key, we learn from each other and the other big plus is the access to talent here." Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked whether these kind of collaborations also deliver. Philipsen: "Yes! We are doing really well. One great example is the Doing Business in Dubai programme which was initialised by HSD and InnovationQuarter. With a group of entrepreneurs we presented ourselves in the Holland Innovation House which was launched at one of the largest technology events in the world: GITEX. We have now entered a tendering process which we would not have had access to without this programme.
The last part of the visit related to the latest developments in the International Zone in The Hague in which partners like Thales, Siemens, The National Police Force, TNO and KPN work together. Arnoud Vernimmen of Thales talked about their biggest challenge: "for us it is about connecting board innovation with the technical developments". HSD independent chairman Wim Kuijken: "here at HSD we bring parties together so that we can build bridges between innovation projects and decision makers. We need technology that we trust in order to convince the boards to take cyber security more and more seriously. This way we secure the future of our economies."